Driving the Day

Good Wednesday morning. SPOTTED: Jared and Ivanka at Masseria last night… SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-S.C.) having dinner with J.D. Vance, Sean Parker and Steve Case at Fiola Mare last night.

WHAT D.C. WILL BE TALKING ABOUT TODAY …

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— SPEAKER PAUL RYAN is meeting with HOUSE MINORITY LEADER NANCY PELOSI at 5 p.m. to discuss legislative options to protect Dreamers, Heather Caygle scoops. http://politi.co/2w7Tf8s To say this is an early-stage conversation would be an understatement. They’re just touching gloves. (CHEAT SHEET, courtesy Steve Shepard and the good folks at Morning Consult — “Poll: Majority wants Congress to establish path to citizenship for DACA recipients” http://politi.co/2h0Bpx2)

— PRESIDENT TRUMP is meeting with a bipartisan group of moderate House lawmakers, including the Problem Solvers Caucus. http://politi.co/2joKaBVREMEMBER, MR. PRESIDENT: Often times, conservatives have enough clout to outweigh anything moderates want to do.

— SEN. TIM SCOTT will be at the White House this afternoon to meet with the president.

THE BIG PICTURE — THE UNTOUCHABLE PRESIDENT – “Teflon Donald Trump: Democrats have attacked the president every which way, but polling and focus groups show none of it’s working,” by Isaac Dovere: “Democrats tried attacking Donald Trump as unfit for the presidency. They’ve made the case that he’s ineffective, pointing to his failure to sign a single major piece of legislation into law after eight months in the job. They’ve argued that Trump is using the presidency to enrich himself, and that his campaign was in cahoots with Russia. None of it is working. Data from a range of focus groups and internal polls in swing states paint a grim picture for the Democratic Party heading into the 2018 midterms and 2020 presidential election.

“It suggests that Democrats are naive if they believe Trump’s historically low approval numbers mean a landslide is coming. The party is defending 10 Senate seats in states that Trump won and needs to flip 17 House seats to take control of that chamber. The research, conducted by private firms and for Democratic campaign arms, is rarely made public but was described to POLITICO in interviews with a dozen top operatives who’ve been analyzing the results coming in.” With cameos by Bill Burton, Matt Canter, Steve Israel, Guy Cecil, Peter Hart, Anson Kaye, Ali Lapp, and Celinda Lakehttp://politi.co/2y4WNWa

JOSH DAWSEY SCOOPS — FLYNN BACK ON THE HOT SEAT: “Flynn backed for-profit nuclear scheme inside Trump transition”: “As a top official in President Donald Trump’s transition team, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn actively promoted a private-sector scheme to build dozens of nuclear reactors across the Middle East known informally in the transition as the ‘Marshall Plan.’ But he did not publicly disclose that backers of the plan had paid him at least $25,000. Flynn communicated during the transition with the backers of the for-profit plan, billed as a way of strengthening ties between the U.S. and Arab allies looking to develop nuclear power capability.

“Meanwhile, the Trump adviser expressed his support for the plan with people inside the transition—and discussed its merits with others beyond Trump Tower, according to sources within and close to the Trump team at that time. Flynn’s consulting work for the company has been previously reported, but not the extent of his involvement during the Trump transition, nor the full amount he was paid for it. … Robert Kelner, a Flynn lawyer, declined to comment.

“Flynn has not been accused of wrongdoing in the matter, and it is unclear if he faces any legal liability. But the new details underscore the way Flynn seemed to commingle his private consulting work prior to Trump’s election and his semi-official duties afterward—something that has drawn legal scrutiny and created political headaches for a Trump White House that granted him access to the government’s deepest secrets.” http://politi.co/2xYtDHy

THE TAX REFORM PUSH — The White House is pushing outside groups to ramp up its messaging machine to launch a full on sales pitch for a tax overhaul. NANCY COOK emails us: “[O]n Tuesday, a member of the White House press shop blasted out an email to outside stakeholder groups titled ‘Trump Tax Cut Blitz!’ with suggested articles to push out and tweet about the administration’s efforts. The email also listed five different events that the president, senior administration officials, and Cabinet secretaries including Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and SBA Administrator Linda McMahon were participating in to boost a potential tax overhaul, according to the note obtained by POLITICO.”

HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS CHAIRMAN KEVIN BRADY — along with GOP leadership — is holding a Republican conference meeting today on tax reform. COLIN WILHELM notes to us that “No new details expected, just early effort to engage members more and avoid the feeling of a top down effort.”

— WAPO’S DAMIAN PALETTA, SEAN SULLIVAN and KELSEY SNELL: “Trump’s push for tax cuts is coming up against a familiar challenge: Divided GOP”: “Trump advisers and top congressional leaders, hoping to assuage conservatives hungry for details, are working urgently to assemble a framework that they hope to release next week, according to White House aides and lawmakers. But after months of negotiations, the thorniest disagreement remains in view: how to pay for the giant tax cuts Trump has promised.

“Negotiators agree with the goal of slashing the corporate income tax rate and also cutting individual income taxes. But they have yet to agree about which tax breaks should be cut to pay for it all. In private talks, Trump advisers are pressing to eliminate or reduce several popular tax deductions, including the interest companies pay on debt, state and local income taxes paid by families and individuals, and the hugely popular mortgage interest deduction.” http://wapo.st/2woPkPA

— NANCY COOK and RACHAEL BADE: “Republicans suspicious of ‘Democrats’ Cohn and Mnuchin as tax plans take shape: Conservatives are wondering if Gary Cohn and Steven Mnuchin will work to keep the GOP’s right flank happy on tax reform rather than appeal for Democratic votes to get a package passed” http://politi.co/2xjVi8y

BREAKTHROUGH — “Senate Finance leaders announce 5-year CHIP deal,” by Rachana Pradhan: “The Senate Finance Committee has agreed to a five-year funding extension for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the tax-writing panel’s top Republican and Democrat announced Tuesday evening. The announcement from Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) came with Congress careening toward an end-of-the-month deadline to extend federal funding for a program that covers roughly 9 million low-income children. … The proposed legislation would maintain Obamacare’s 23 percent increase in the federal matching rate to states for 2018 and 2019 and begin to ratchet it down in 2020, according to GOP and Democratic aides. The bump is set at 11.5 percent in 2020 and would be totally eliminated starting in 2021.” http://politi.co/2wZRs3K

****** A message from CTIA and America’s wireless industry: The global race to deploy 5G wireless is on—and America needs to win. Government action on spectrum and infrastructure policy will allow U.S. wireless companies to invest $275 billion, create more than 3 million jobs, and add $500 billion to the economy, according to Accenture. Learn more at CTIA.org. ******

FOR YOUR RADAR — “White House Weighs Lowering Refugee Quota to Below 50,000,” by NYT’s Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Miriam Jordan: “The Trump administration is considering reducing the number of refugees admitted to the country over the next year to below 50,000, according to current and former government officials familiar with the discussions, the lowest number since at least 1980. … In his first days in office he took steps to radically reduce the program that resettles refugees in American cities and towns, capping the number admitted at 50,000 as part of his executive order banning travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries. … But in recent weeks, as the deadline approached for Mr. Trump to issue the annual determination for refugee admissions required by the Refugee Act of 1980, some inside the White House — led by Stephen Miller, Mr. Trump’s senior adviser for policy — have pressed to set the ceiling even lower.” http://nyti.ms/2f5pWfj

–WAPO: “Supreme Court agrees with Trump administration, says some refugees can be barred for now”:http://wapo.st/2f4iDV1

— “Top White House Official to Discuss Climate Change at U.N.,” by NYT’s Lisa Friedman: “Gary D. Cohn, the chief White House economic adviser, is convening senior climate and energy ministers from about a dozen nations in advance of next week’s United Nations General Assembly meeting, the White House confirmed Tuesday. The breakfast in New York next Monday will be held against a backdrop of devastation in the United States and the Caribbean from two monster hurricanes that scientists say may have been made more ferocious by warming trends.” http://nyti.ms/2vT3ZDa

— “North Korea defiant over U.N. sanctions as Trump says tougher steps needed,” by Reuters’ Jack Kim in Seoul and Roberta Rampton in Washington: “The North’s Foreign Ministry said the resolutions were an infringement on its legitimate right to self-defence and aimed at ‘completely suffocating its state and people through full-scale economic blockade.’ ‘The DPRK will redouble the efforts to increase its strength to safeguard the country’s sovereignty and right to existence and to preserve peace and security of the region by establishing the practical equilibrium with the U.S.,’ it said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.” http://reut.rs/2y4pbaR

— “Amid NKorea crisis, Mattis focuses on U.S. doomsday arsenal,” by AP’s Robert Burns: “As North Korea flaunts its new nuclear muscle, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is spotlighting the overwhelming numerical superiority of America’s doomsday arsenal. On Wednesday he is dropping in on ground zero of American nuclear firepower: Minot Air Force base in North Dakota, home to more than 100 land-based nuclear missiles as well as nuclear bomb-toting aircraft. He also will receive briefings at Strategic Command, whose top officer would command nuclear forces in war.” http://politi.co/2xYiQNr

WHAT FOGGY BOTTOM IS READING — “U.S. Is Said to Test Support for Extending Iran Nuclear Limits,” by Bloomberg’s Nick Wadhams: “Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is turning to U.S. allies in Europe as he seeks a way to salvage the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran a month before President Donald Trump faces a deadline to decide whether to walk away from what he’s called ‘the worst deal ever.’ U.S. diplomats have approached European officials to see if they would join in demanding an extension to limits on Iran’s uranium enrichment that are set to expire in 2025.” https://bloom.bg/2joQdX9

PUTIN WATCH — “Russia Sought A Broad Reset With Trump, Secret Document Shows,” by BuzzFeed’s John Hudson: “In the third month of Donald Trump’s presidency, Vladimir Putin dispatched one of his diplomats to the State Department to deliver a bold proposition: the full normalization of relations between the United States and Russia across all major branches of government. The proposal, spelled out in a detailed document obtained by BuzzFeed News, called for the wholesale restoration of diplomatic, military, and intelligence channels severed between the two countries after Russia’s military interventions in Ukraine and Syria. The broad scope of the Kremlin’s reset plan came with an ambitious launch date: immediately.” http://bzfd.it/2f3wdrO

TRUMP INC. — “How India Became the World Leader in Trump Projects,” by Blake Schmidt in Bloomberg: “In western India, a pair of shiny black Trump buildings with gold insignia tower over the city of Pune. In nearby Mumbai, a 75-story Trump skyscraper will be one of the tallest in the megacity. In a swanky suburb of Delhi, two Trump partners have big plans. And in Kolkata, a new Trump tower is under way. … India has become the only major developing country where his business is roaring. It has the most construction projects with Trump licensing deals of any country outside of the U.S. … Asked about potential conflicts in India, the Trump Organization said it’s ‘very proud of the success we have achieved in that market with five active properties under various stages of development.’” https://bloom.bg/2xYHrS7

FROM LONDON PLAYBOOK — WOODY SPEAKS: “The new U.S. ambassador in London Woody Johnson made his inaugural speech last night and he had words to cheer the hearts of Brexiteers. ‘As far as the president is concerned, the United Kingdom, our most enduring ally, is always at the head of the line,’ Johnson said. ‘The United States is committed to standing with the U.K. through Brexit.’ He also sought to reassure Brits that he is a long-standing friend of President Trump, and that ‘when you get to know him, you’ll like him.’” Prepared remarkshttp://bit.ly/2wUYec2 … Subscribe to London Playbookhttp://politi.co/2xfDPuK

— SECRETARY OF STATE REX TILLERSON is in London today.

THE JUICE …

— THE SENATE LEADERSHIP FUND, the outside group aligned with GOP leadership, continues to pound Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race. The group dropped $714,075 in TV and radio ads this week, according to an FEC filing.

— NANCY GIBBS is stepping down as editor-in-chief of Time after 32 years with the company and 4 years leading the magazine. Rich Battista and Alan Murray have not yet named her replacement. Gibbs’ staff memohttp://politi.co/2wZO5sl … Battista and Murray emailhttp://politi.co/2h05ey4

— SPEAKER PAUL RYAN in August “transferred $2 million to the NRCC, bringing his total haul for House Republicans’ campaign arm to nearly $30 million in 2017,” Elena Schneider reports. “Ryan’s fundraising accounted for more than half of what the NRCC raised in August, just before a round of GOP retirements put more battleground districts at risk ahead of a potentially difficult — and expensive — 2018 election for House Republicans.” http://politi.co/2w7f1Jn

POLITICO celebrated the launch of its London Playbook last night at the Institute for Government in London. POLITICO European Editor Matt Kaminski and POLITICO CEO Patrick Steel kicked off the soiree. London Mayor Sadiq Khan sent kind words. The fete brought together Anna, EU Playbooker Ryan Heath and London Playbooker Jack Blanchard for the first time. Picshttp://politi.co/2wWBzfv

JOE POMPEO in Vanity Fair — “Maggie Haberman and Glenn Thrush Take the Next Step with Trump”: “The announcement that New York Times White House correspondents Maggie Haberman and Glenn Thrush have agreed to do a Trump book for Random House, as I first reported Tuesday, was both bombshell journalism news and something of a foregone conclusion. …

“But the duo’s ambition for the as-yet-untitled book … is to do something that goes beyond the palace intrigue (though there’ll be plenty of that as well) to tell a larger story about who Trump is, why the country chose him, and what it all says about America and where we’re headed. They’ve told people that they want the book to be ‘durable,’ and that, ‘We want this to mean something.’ …

“The Haberman-Thrush collaboration enters an already-crowded field of Trump books.Joshua Green’s recently published account of the Donald Trump-Steve Bannon partnership reached No. 1 on the New York Times list. Mark Halperin and John Heilemann are working on a third installment in their Game Change series; Politico Playbook columnists Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman have inked a deal for a book on the backroom dramas of Capitol Hill; Amy Chozick and Katy Tur landed campaign memoirs; and Rosie Gray has a biography of Breitbart News in the making.” http://bit.ly/2eVUfBw

–NYT: “Twelve, an imprint of Grand Central Publishing, will release the book by Michael Isikoff and David Corn in March. According to the publisher, the book, tentatively titled ‘The Russian Connection,’ will go behind the scenes of Russia’s attempts to influence the election, and will also analyze Trump’s decades-long dealings with Russia as well as the historical relationship between the two countries.” http://nyti.ms/2y4i0zB

Playbook Reads

PHOTO DU JOUR: Jean Chatelier walks through a street flooded by Hurricane Irma to retrieve his uniform from his house to return to work today at a supermarket in Fort Myers, Fla., on Sept. 12. | David Goldman/AP Photo

JUST POSTED – JIM RUTENBERG in the upcoming Times Magazine, “RT, Sputnik and Russia’s New Theory of War: How the Kremlin built one of the most powerful information weapons of the 21st century — and why it may be impossible to stop.” http://nyti.ms/2fhCOM6

DATAPOINT — “Sanders will introduce universal health care, backed by 15 Democrats,” by WaPo’s Dave Weigel: “‘This is where the country has got to go,’ Sanders said in an interview at his Senate office. ‘Right now, if we want to move away from a dysfunctional, wasteful, bureaucratic system into a rational health-care system that guarantees coverage to everyone in a cost-effective way, the only way to do it is Medicare for All.’ Sanders’s bill, the Medicare for All Act of 2017, has no chance of passage in a Republican-run Congress. But the bill is already backed by most of the senators seen as likely 2020 Democratic candidates — if not by most senators facing tough reelection battles in 2018.” http://wapo.st/2x0AG4V

JON MEACHAM in the NYT, “‘What Happened’? They Lost. With Her Memoir, Hillary Clinton Joins a Haunted Club”: “She had packed for victory. There had been a white suit for election night at the Javits Center beneath a glass ceiling; white was the color of the suffragists who, a century earlier, had at last won the franchise for women. But now, in the morning hours after Donald J. Trump’s White House upset, Hillary Clinton donned gray and purple for her concession to the country. … For there had been a different plan.

“The gray and purple, she writes, was the ‘one I had intended to wear on my first trip to Washington as President Elect.’ And so Clinton’s starkly titled ‘What Happened’ now joins what we might call the Kempton Collection, after the New York columnist Murray Kempton, who always believed that the real story was to be found not amid the sprays of Champagne among winners but in the tragic bleakness of the losers’ locker rooms.” http://nyti.ms/2eUxNbR

BEN SMITH in BuzzFeed, “There’s Blood In The Water In Silicon Valley: The bad new politics of big tech”: “The blinding rise of Donald Trump over the past year has masked another major trend in American politics: the palpable, and perhaps permanent, turn against the tech industry. The new corporate leviathans that used to be seen as bright new avatars of American innovation are increasingly portrayed as sinister new centers of unaccountable power, a transformation likely to have major consequences for the industry and for American politics. That turn has accelerated in recent days: Steve Bannon and Bernie Sanders both want big tech treated as, in Bannon’s words in Hong Kong this week, ‘public utilities.’

“Tucker Carlson and Franklin Foer have found common ground. Even the group No Labels, an exquisitely poll-tested effort to create a safe new center, is on board. Rupert Murdoch, never shy to use his media power to advance his commercial interests, is hard at work. ‘Anti-trust is back, baby,’ Yelp’s policy chief, Luther Lowe, DM’d me after Fox News gave him several minutes to make the antitrust case against Yelp’s giant rival Google to its audience of millions.” http://bzfd.it/2wYGQRf

****** Amessage from CTIA and America’s wireless industry: Tomorrow’s 5G networks will create 3 million jobs, add $500 billion to the economy, and fuel innovation and entrepreneurialism across every sector. If policymakers move quickly to release more spectrum and modernize infrastructure rules, the wireless industry stands ready to invest $275 billion to build these next-gen networks, according to Accenture. This will drive breakthrough advancements in remote health care, connected vehicles, energy, education and beyond—making our lives better and safer. But the race to deploy 5G wireless networks is underway—and we’re at a critical moment. The EU, China, Japan, South Korea and others are doing everything they can to win. If policymakers act now, the U.S. can continue our global leadership in wireless. Learn how at CTIA.org. ******

SCOTUS WATCH — “Supreme Court blocks ruling against Texas redistricting,” by Josh Gerstein: “A sharply divided Supreme Court has blocked a lower court ruling that a congressional district map Texas adopted in 2013 violates the Constitution and is the product of intentional racial discrimination. The high court announced Tuesday night that the justices voted, 5-4, along partisan lines to block a three-judge panel’s ruling that Texas needed to redraw the maps or face having them redrawn by the court. The stay will remain in place until the Supreme Court receives and acts on an appeal expected to be filed by the State of Texas.” http://politi.co/2xwTBFY

FUN READ — “Trump ambassador qualifications: Wrote a cookbook, sang in a church choir,” by Yahoo’s Olivier Knox: “Following in his predecessors’ footsteps, President Trump has tapped generous political supporters to join the ranks of America’s ambassadors. Among their official, administration-vetted qualifications: church choir singer, cookbook writer, and Fox News punditry. … [T]he ‘Certificates of Competency’ that the Trump administration is required to produce for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee can make for interesting reading.” https://yhoo.it/2fhbhur

Playbookers

SPOTTED: Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao sitting in coach on a Delta flight from Detroit to DCA after giving a speech on self-driving cars … at Scarlet Oak in Navy Yard: Steny Hoyer dining with a bunch of Dem. members including Reps. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.), Annie Kuster (D-N.H.), Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) and Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) … Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) last night at 801 Bar … Leon Panetta lunching in the back corner booth of the Capital Grille on Pennsylvania yesterday

OUT AND ABOUT – PBS and Bank of America hosted an advance screening of “The Vietnam War,” Ken Burns’ new mini-series last night at the Kennedy Center. Martha Raddatz hosted a Q&A with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), John Kerry, Chuck Hagel, Burns and co-filmmaker Lynn Novick after they showed six clips from the astounding 18-hour documentary, which premieres on Sunday at 8 p.m. The Lumineers also played the cover of Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” Vietnam war veterans in the audience were asked twice to stand up so that they could be recognized by the crowd. Previewhttp://bit.ly/2wpH2ak … PICS — the McCain-Kerry-Hagel panelhttp://bit.ly/2y4yW90 … Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihanhttp://bit.ly/2fhxZCC … The Lumineershttp://bit.ly/2gZGQwu

WHITE HOUSE DEPARTURE LOUNGE —PAM STEVENS is out of the Trump administration after two and a half months as associate director of external affairs in the Office of Drug Control Policy. Her last day was Monday. She told us: “I enthusiastically accepted a position at the Office of Drug Control Policy … to set-up the office of External Affairs in anticipation of a nominee for Drug Czar. As that has been now been accomplished with President Trump’s selection of Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.), I am now, as expected, moving on to another role.”

–Evan Walker, who most recently worked in the Office of Digital Strategy for President Trump, is moving over to the House Republican Conference to work for Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.) to be senior digital strategist. Walker has also been content and creative director at the RNC.

TRANSITIONS — Alec Zimmerman has been promoted to communications director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. He joined as press secretary in January. … Mario H. Lopez, president of the Hispanic Leadership Fund, has been named by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to serve on the FCC’s Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — @EricTrump: “.@LaraLeaTrump and I are excited to announce the birth of our son, Eric ‘Luke’ Trump at 8:50 [Tuesday] morning.” Pichttp://bit.ly/2x0sCRi

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Vivian Schiller, editor in chief at Weber Shandwick and a Twitter, NBC, NPR and NYT alum. A trend she thinks is undercovered: “News literacy. It’s not just about making sure students consume and share the ‘right’ news, it’s fundamentally about teaching kids to think critically as they navigate the world through their mobile devices. Our education system has failed to modernize in the face of the vastly different way the kids experience the world.” Read her Playbook Plus Q&A:http://politi.co/2xxK41k

****** A message from CTIA and America’s wireless industry: We need new rules for new 5G networks. New policies that will allow the U.S. to win the race to 5G and enable breakthrough advancements in healthcare, transportation, energy and more. First, a pipeline of low-, mid-, and high-band spectrum will help meet today’s mobile needs and enable the 5G networks of tomorrow. Second, every level of government must modernize their rules for the building of small cell wireless infrastructure. Third, permanent and common sense federal regulations for interstate services like mobile broadband will preserve an open internet and protect consumer privacy while promoting innovation and investment. Finally, America’s tax structure must be updated to spur billions of dollars in new 5G investment. Learn more about how wireless is working to invest in America’s future at CTIA.org. ******

The host of TYT Network's nationally-syndicated Bill Press Show (Monday-Friday from 7-9am ET), Press attends the daily White House press briefing and writes a weekly column for the powerhouse politics website The Hill.